Saturday, 28 November 2015

Natural birthing has really taken off in the past few years in Korea. Doulas have become more and more popular among both foreigners and Koreans. Doctors are seeing the benefits of doing less interventions if possible and are even opening up new natural birthing clinics. In addition, they are realizing the importance of childbirth education for both moms and dads. Breastfeeding is lagging a bit behind due to beliefs and culture, but there are still staunch proponents of breastfeeding infants and toddlers. Here's some information to help you enter the birthing profession.

Enroll in a Course
Many people go through CBI (Childbirth International) since the requirements can be met while living overseas. CBI doesn't require doulas to renew their certification either. There are other options as well, such as DONA. You can find a more comprehensive list here.Join the Korea Doula Facebook Group
Once you enroll in a course you can join the Korea Doula group. It's for childbirth educators, breastfeeding counselors, birth doulas, and postpartum doulas. People come from a variety of backgrounds and live all over Korea, though most are in Seoul. Be sure to message one of the admin and explain why you want to join.

Joining the group will allow you to connect with other doulas and shadow their births so that you can fulfill all the requirements for your certification. You will also learn how much to charge, legal issues about working as a doula, contracts, how to choose a back-up doula, and more. There are fewer breastfeeding counselors and childbirth educators than doulas, but you should still be able to get observe classes if necessary. The group is very close-knit and helpful.

Get Clients
There are a number of Facebook groups where you can find clients. Some forbid advertising, so be careful. You might be able to PM people. Word of mouth is definitely the best. Once your name is out there, people will start to recommend you.

Saturday, 14 November 2015

Breast exams aren't normally a part of a woman's annual exam in Korea. Some obgyns will do them, but most don't and you might have to go elsewhere. I'm sure you already know that you should be doing monthly BSE (breast self exams). In Korea they recommend Asian women to start getting mammograms at age 40 and western women to start at age 50.

I went earlier this year because I found a lump in my left breast. I went to the doctor in the US and they said it might be a cyst and were worried because it was big. They also found one in my right breast. I don't have American insurance and the mammogram alone would have run me $1000 and they said it could take a few weeks for the results. I decided to just wait until I got back to Korea.

Once I got back I went to SCH (Soonchunhyun) Hospital in Hannam near Itaewon. With NHS the mammogram was only about 23,000. NHS covered the other half of it. The sonogram was not covered and it was 170,000.

I had heard that mammograms were extremely painful, but it really didn't hurt that much at all. It was uncomfortable because my whole side and face was pressed up against the machine but it really didn't hurt. They took two X-rays of each side: one horizontally and another diagonally. It was fast and over in minutes. I now regret having had a mammogram now that I know how harmful they are and that there are facts against using them. The sonogram was painless. They just put some gel on you and run the machine up and down your breasts and in your armpits. I got the results right away and they were negative: no cysts, nothing.

If you're looking to get a breast exam you can try going to a large hospital near you. You can also call the Global Centers and they can tell you if there are any small clinics near you that offer this service. If you find anything it's best to go ASAP.

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Massage has been proven to have many benefits both mental and physical. These benefits can be extended to infants, toddlers, and children as well. It's never too late to start massaging your baby. Some parents make it part of their bedtime routine. Infants aren't able to sit still for long and massages may only last five minutes or so. However, even this short time provides lots of benefits.

According to the IAIM (International Association of Infant Massage), Loving Touch, and Infant Massage USA, infant massage can help by stimulating, relaxing, providing relief, and helping with bonding. Below you can find some of the mental and physical benefits of infant massage. Buy from Amazon

Keep in mind that as with other massage therapist specialisations, there is no licensing, certification, or verification to teach infant massage. Those who are already massage therapists are legally allowed to call themselves infant massage therapists. Those are aren't massage therapists can only legally call themselves infant massage instructors and cannot touch other people's babies. They can only demonstrate on dolls or their own baby.

Childbirth International

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